Houston bowl game to be called the Texas Bowl

The Dec. 28 college bowl game to be played at Reliant Stadium will be called the Texas Bowl, bowl organizers announced Thursday.

The Texas Bowl is set for December.

The game, which recently signed a television contract with the NFL Network, will feature teams from the Big 12 and Big East Conferences this season.

A presenting sponsor will be named at a later date, Lone Star Sports & Entertainment president Jamey Rootes said.

Rootes said the short-term goal is for the Texas Bowl to establish economic stability. He would ultimately like Houston to become a player in the Bowl Championship Series pecking order, which determines the national champion.

“One of the things we said we wanted to do is be consistent with other BCS bowls,” Rootes said. “If you want to be the president, you better dress like the president long before you’re there. If you want to be a BCS bowl, we’re going to dress like a BCS bowl from day one and hopefully over time earn our opportunity to participate on that level.”

Rootes said it will be important for the bowl to have “a local appeal” to the game by getting choices of regional teams from the Big 12 and Conference USA, which will alternate years with the Big East. The bowl likely will be able to pick from among the Big 12’s Nos. 6-7-8 teams.

The postseason bowl game in Houston has been hurt in recent years by less-than-desirable matchups with no regional appeal.

“In order for the bowls to continue to survive and thrive they’ve got to have exciting matchups, at least on a local interest,” Rootes said.

If you’re wondering, the University Interscholastic League also calls its high school football championships the Texas Bowl. Rootes said an agreement has been reached with Host Communications, which televises the prep title games, for exclusive naming rights.

“We’ve worked through that,” Rootes said. “We don’t anticipate it being called the Texas Bowl moving forward … we do anticipate us being called the Texas Bowl. We’ve spent a lot of time on this logo.”